Siesta Manor, Inc. v. Community Federal Sav. and Loan Ass'n
| Decision Date | 12 August 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 50394,50394 |
| Citation | 716 S.W.2d 835 |
| Parties | SIESTA MANOR, INC., Appellant, v. COMMUNITY FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION, f/k/a, Carondelet Savings and Loan Association, Respondent. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Jerome J. Duff, St. Louis, for appellant.
Robert C. Jones, Steven W. Koslovsky, Clayton, for respondent.
Plaintiff, Siesta Manor, Inc., appeals from a judgment dismissing with prejudice its petition against defendant Community Federal Savings and Loan Association (succeeding and replacing Carondelet Savings and Loan Association).
Siesta filed a civil action for money damages against Carondelet alleging Carondelet breached a construction loan contract prior to and in connection with a foreclosure sale of plaintiff's real estate in Jefferson County, Missouri. Carondelet filed a motion to dismiss Siesta's cause of action claiming that the action was barred by the principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel because of an earlier final judgment of the Jefferson County Circuit Court involving the same parties. This court agrees and affirms the judgment of dismissal.
It will be necessary to include relevant facts from the earlier Jefferson County cause of action in which Siesta sought to set aside a foreclosure sale. Siesta, a Missouri Corporation, purchased property for the development of a mobile home park in Jefferson County, Missouri. Siesta, on February 19, 1973, borrowed the money from Carondelet to purchase this land and develop the park.
Chicago Title Insurance Company was a party to this loan transaction, acting as the escrowee of the loan amount under a construction and disbursing escrow agreement which appellant contends Carondelet breached. Carondelet was to deposit the construction contract amount with Chicago Title for disbursement to Siesta. The loan proceeds were placed in a loan in process account. Siesta was to pay interest on the loan to Carondelet for twenty-four months and principal and interest thereafter.
Siesta failed to pay the interest payments for some months between February 1973 and January 1975. Carondelet withdrew sums from the loan in process account to cover the interest payments due. Siesta reimbursed Carondelet for the interest payments on April 10, 1975. The loan was extended from January 1, 1975, to July 1975. After April 10, 1975, Siesta did not make any principal or interest payments. Carondelet then foreclosed.
Siesta did not tender nor offer to tender the loan arrearages to Carondelet, nor did it take any action to prevent a foreclosure sale although it knew about the sale ahead of time. The property was foreclosed on June 19, 1978.
The trustee at the foreclosure sale, the general counsel of Carondelet, purchased the property for $285,000.00. Carondelet contracted for the sale of the property on July 3, 1978, for a price of $600,000 and later sold it for that amount.
Carondelet received $185,000 from Chicago Title in settlement of a lawsuit Carondelet brought against Chicago Title arising out of a dispute concerning the loan disbursement contract account. Siesta was not a party to the lawsuit nor was it informed by Carondelet of the settlement payment. Carondelet credited the $185,000 settlement amount to Siesta's account on the date of the foreclosure sale, although it had received the payment some months prior to the sale.
Siesta did not take any action to redeem the property under Chapter 443 RSMo.1978.
In July 1978, Siesta filed an action for damages in St. Louis County which was amended in June 1979 by adding a count seeking to set aside the foreclosure sale. The count requesting that the foreclosure sale be set aside as void was later withdrawn. Siesta then filed suit in Jefferson County in September 1980, again to have the foreclosure sale set aside. Although Siesta sought the equitable remedy of voiding the foreclosure sale, it also prayed for "such other and further orders as this court deems appropriate herein".
The Jefferson County trial court found that the foreclosure sale was inequitable but that it should not be set aside because many subsequent transfers of portions of the property had taken place to various third parties.
Saying that the action was an equitable action but that the court could provide legal, as well as equitable relief, the court ordered that Carondelet credit Siesta with the $600,000 realized by Carondelet in its sale of the property, subject to any valid claims of Carondelet against Siesta. The court concluded that its determination of the action was a final judgment even though an accounting or negotiations between the parties might be necessary in order to calculate the exact amount of the judgment.
After the accounting between the parties, Siesta was entitled to execute on the judgment in the amount of $99,195 plus interest. Both Siesta and Community Federal, Carondelet's successor, appealed the judgment. Community Federal failed to post an appeal bond. Siesta ordered an execution on the judgment, and Community Federal satisfied the judgment by giving Siesta's attorney a certified check for $138,634.67.
Siesta's attorney endorsed and negotiated the check for the full amount of the judgment. Because Siesta voluntarily collected the entire judgment, its appeal to this court from the Jefferson County case was dismissed as moot.
Community Federal then moved to dismiss Siesta's pending action for money damages in Count I of the case previously filed in St. Louis County based on the doctrines of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and election of remedies. The trial court granted Community Federal's motion to dismiss. This appeal by Siesta followed.
Siesta presents three points relied on in its brief. Points I and III do not comply with Rule 84.04(d) as they are merely abstract statements of law citing no allegations of trial court error. Accordingly, points I and III are denied as they present nothing for review. Rule 84.08(a).
In its remaining point, Siesta alleges the trial court erred in failing to recognize that the law of Missouri provides two separate remedies for wrongful foreclosure: 1) a suit in equity to set aside the foreclosure, and if unsuccessful, 2) a civil action for damages for breach of the mortgage transaction agreements. Siesta's point is denied and the judgment dismissing the appeal is affirmed.
The appeal is from the trial court's order dismissing Siesta's petition. This court must therefore examine the pleadings giving them their broadest meaning, construe the allegations in favor of Siesta, and determine whether any ground for relief has been stated under substantive principles of law. Foster v. Foster, 673 S.W.2d 108, 109[1, 2] (Mo.App.1984).
Siesta contends that the relief granted by the trial court in its original action was equitable relief in the form of an accounting rather than the legal relief of damages.
The Jefferson County court noted in its judgment entry that the action was equitable but that it could provide legal, as well as equitable relief, citing Lee v. New Age Federal Savings and Loan Association, 425 S.W.2d 271 (Mo.App.1968). The trial court proceeded to find that the foreclosure sale was inequitable but that it should not be set aside because of the numerous subsequent transfers of portions of the real estate to third parties. The court's judgment then read: "Equity can act, however, to credit plaintiff with the full proceeds realized from the subsequent sale of the property by Carondelet subject to any valid claims of said defendant, and the court grants relief to plaintiff in this manner."
The trial court had the authority to grant legal relief although the case was brought as an equitable action. Craig v. Jo B. Gardner, Inc., 586 S.W.2d 316, 325 [11-13] (Mo. banc 1979). In Craig, the court ruled that a claim for quantum meruit legal relief could be granted in an equitable action for an attorney's lien.
"The fact that quantum meruit relief is normally granted in an action at law is not a bar to our right to grant it herein, assuming such relief is...
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